Pueblo steaming toward Amtrak stop

Rail lines replacement at $94.5M is needed; federal funds, grants could help

By nick bonham
the pueblo chieftain

Published: October 24, 2013;Last modified: October 24, 2013 11:38PM

Support for saving Amtrak’s Southwest Chief passenger train and making Pueblo a route stop is picking up steam.

Chris Kaufman

The Pueblo Area Council of Governments passed a resolution Thursday pushing the importance and need for Pueblo to be added on to the Southeastern Colorado route, and to keep the Chief rolling through this area, New Mexico and Kansas.

Due to costly rail upgrades and maintenance, Amtrak has considered rerouting the Chief, which stops off at Trinidad, La Junta and Lamar.

County Commissioner Sal Pace, who is leading the effort to add Pueblo to the line, said Amtrak, Pueblo governments and those throughout Southeastern Colorado, New Mexico and Kansas, want the current Chief line to stay. Pace says local state legislators and federal congressmen and senators have given their support.

The effort now is gathering official endorsements — resolutions, letters — to keep the issue alive.

The problem is money, which could be answered through grants and federal funding.

Jim Souby, said the 250-plus miles of rail in New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas must be replaced, a capital project totaling about $94.5 million.

The idea now, Souby said, is for Amtrak, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, and governments in the three states to all pitch in for the upgrades.

“I guarantee you that every one of that 254 miles of track that needs to be replaced — it’s stamped with CF&I on it. We’d love to see Evraz on that,” said Carl Smith, Colorado’s legislative director for Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation union. He was referring to rail produced by Pueblo’s steel mill.

Smith, a Pueblo native, said SMART helped perform a poll in Southeastern Colorado and Kansas communities. Those areas support governmental help for track upgrades.

Adding Pueblo as a stop would boost economic development and bring in tourism dollars, the group said.

“I often say that Pueblo is the hub capital of Southeastern Colorado. Anything we do to support transportation to and from this region is equally important to marketing our area to the region,” City Councilman Chris Kaufman said.

Souby said that passenger trains are huge draws for foreign tourism, mainly Europe and Asia, visitors wanting to explore America’s Western heritage.

Adding Pueblo as a stop, Souby said, also would open up passenger train traffic on north and southbound rail lines that pass along the Front Range.

“We in Southeast Colorado haven’t really mined that. It brings in people with deep pockets,” Souby said. “Our thinking is, with your leadership, we believe Pueblo should become a central hub for this train, (Pueblo’s) a much larger population, closer to Colorado Springs, Denver, the Front Range where there’s tremendous growth.”